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A Refiner's Fire & Launderer's Soap (Malachi 3.1-4; 4 of 4)

"But who can endure the day of His [Messiah's] coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderer's soap." (Malachi 3.2).

Malachi used fire and soap as figures of purification and cleansing. Messiah was coming to effect spiritual cleansing in Israel. This was sorely needed due to the massive rebellion of God's people against the terms of their covenant. They had agreed to serve the only true and living God, but had gone after the false gods and forbidden practices of the pagan nations around them. Spiritually speaking, they were unclean and unfit to appear before Holy God. Messiah was the only hope of cleansing so far as Israel was concerned. But the question that Malachi asked deserves an answer. "Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears?"

When Jesus was born in the tiny town of Bethlehem, Israel was but a minor player in Rome's deck of cards. Thousands of miles of real estate were ruled by the great Caesars and the population in and around Jerusalem was but a drop in the bucket compared to the larger scheme of things. Israel was, in the main, away from God but so was the rest of the world. The need for the Messiah was apparent in Israel because the standard of measurement [the Mosaic Law] had been housed there for 1500 years; all who knew the law and were honest with themselves admitted that without Messiah, they had no hope.

So who could stand in the day of Messiah? Who could appear blameless before Holy God? Certainly not Israel! She had lifted her skirts to almost every lover who had come her way! And certainly the Gentile nations had no way to stand in God's presence; they were the breeding grounds for the great pagan religions of the world. Who could stand before Holy God? The answer echoes from the tiniest rill to the greatest of oceans!! "No one can stand before Jehovah! We are each and everyone completely undone before His eyes!"

Malachi could not have stated man's spiritual fate any more accurately. The questions he asked were actually rhetorical in nature because He knew that no one would be worthy; he knew that all were in need of cleansing. He also knew that Isaiah's statements were accurate; the ones that said, "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." (Isaiah 64.6). Malachi knew that no one could stand up to the righteous eyes of Jehovah and that the refining effect of Messiah's fire and the whitening effect of Messiah's soap were essential to man's spiritual standing before God.

When Messiah did come, He came with healing in His wings (Malachi 4.1); His blood was shed for Jew and Gentile alike (Romans 1.16). That precious crimson stream flowed both ways from Calvary, cleansing the sins of God's elect under the former covenants as well as providing purification for the faithful saints in the current dispensation (Romans 3.25-26). He is indeed like a refiner's fire and like launderer's soap! There is none like Him!!

"God's Words For US" from Cecelia Lester

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